Science and scholarship in a changing Europe
The European Review marks its 30th anniversary at a special event held at Wolfson College Cambridge.
Panellists and session chairs at Wolfson College Cambridge
On 3rd July, Members of Academia Europaea (MAEs) and other guests gathered at Wolfson College Cambridge to mark the 30th anniversary of European Review, the journal of Academia Europaea. The event also celebrated 35 years since Academia Europaea was founded, with its initial meeting held in Cambridge in 1988.
The welcome was given by Lord Rees of Ludlow OM FRS MAE, who paid tribute to Sir Arnold Burgen MAE, the founder of Academia Europaea and the first Editor of European Review. He was followed by Alban Kellerbauer MAE, the current Editor, and Don Dingwell OC FRS ML MAE, Vice-President of Academia Europaea.
Alison Rose, Principal of Newnham College Cambridge and with a distinguished career in the diplomatic service, gave the introductory talk. She highlighted the remarkable achievements of the EU over the past 35 years, and ongoing challenges faced by Europe. Key themes included research and innovation, the single market, EU enlargement, levelling-up and democracy.
Lord Rees of Ludlow 
Alban Kellerbauer 
Donald Dingwell 
Alison Rose
Three panel sessions then explored several topics that have underpinned the evolution of the European Review. For each, a panel of experts made opening statements, followed by lively interaction with the audience.
The first panel considered scholarly publishing. Subjects discussed included the benefits and challenges of open access models, approaches to peer review, research assessment, book publishing and the specific needs of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
‘The future of scholarly publishing’ panel chaired by Alban Kellerbauer 
Richard Fisher, Katalin Solymosi and Alban Kellerbauer 
Joanna Ball 
Lara Speicher
The second panel reflected on the issue of interdisciplinarity, particularly within the context of publishing. Core themes included the reward system and career progression, team working, training and funding.
‘Interdisciplinarity’ panel chaired by Steve Evans (second from left) 
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz 
Usha Goswami 
Alan Blackwell
The third panel looked at science advice, also within the context of publishing. The panel spoke about the growing body of literature on science advice and the science-policy interface, the role of interdisciplinarity, and the need for open and high-quality published evidence.
‘Science advice’ panel chaired by Ole Petersen (middle) 
Pearl Dykstra 
Susan E Owens 
Ole Petersen
The final session was an informative and entertaining debate about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on academia and academic publishing. The team presenting the case against AI spoke about the potential for misuse, bias and the presentation of lies as ‘facts’, as well as the temptation to take shortcuts in research. The team speaking in favour of AI looked at the potential benefits for learning and research, and the need for academia to harness AI as a valuable tool.
Debate on Artificial Intelligence chaired by Toby Wardman (middle) 
Yogesh Dwivedi and Susan Robertson 
Erol Gelenbe and Kiera McNeice 
The event took place in Lee Hall, Wolfson College Cambridge
The day ended with a drinks reception.
Audience Participation and networking
Further information
- For more information about the programme and speakers, see here.
Recordings
Resources
About European Review
Academia Europaea is a unique pan-European academy of sciences, humanities and letters, created as the means to express ideas and opinions of scientists and scholars from across Europe. From its first plenary meeting of 627 members, today’s Academy has grown into a thriving organisation of over 5,000 members.
The Academy’s journal, European Review, was launched in 1993, to reflect the Academy’s mission to foster discourse and cooperation between the disciplines. Initially published by Wiley, European Review is now published by Cambridge University Press. In his first editorial, Sir Arnold, as founding Editor-in-Chief, set out his vision for the journal as the means to publish articles of wide interest to readers from a variety of backgrounds. With a focus on interdisciplinarity, the first volume published articles on topics related to science advice, migration, materials science, the future of museums, nation states and human rights.
The period since 1988 has been one of remarkable changes to the political, economic, scientific and cultural landscape of the continent of Europe. Our symposium set out to reflect and debate some of these changes, as we marked the 30th anniversary of the European Review and 35 years since the founding of Academia Europaea.